Italian RFID Expert Finds Creative Solution to Worldwide IC Shortage
Lab ID is an established expert in RFID, NFC and dual frequency solutions for tracing, authentication and anti-counterfeiting. As such, they have been as affected by the global IC shortage in recent years as everyone else. But LAB ID emerges from the crisis stronger, with better products and with improved customer relations.
16 Oct 2023 - ECO Hook M
“Customization helped to overcome the IC shortage”
Dogged persistence is not the reason why Lab ID has grown in recent months. “Thankfully, we don’t work from a catalog, but offer customized solutions”, says Giovanni Codegoni, Sales Manager at LAB ID in Bologna. “We used the IC shortage for testing and reviewing different products from a range of suppliers”, Codegoni continues. In order to continue meeting each customer’s specific needs, LAB ID eventually partnered with different IC suppliers to integrate the newest ICs in their products and solutions. The ensuing changes include: using entirely different ICs, redesigning tags, tag conversion, as well as changes in the encoding process and supply chain management.
New Generation of ICs from NXP Semiconductors and Impinj
For example, in UHF designs, LAB ID is working on transitions with NXP Semiconductors and Impinj. For products which utilize UCode7 and UCode8, LAB ID recommends a switch to UCode9. The main features of the newest UCode9 IC from NXP are:
- EPC file fize changed to 96 bits
- Only kill password available (no access password)
- EPC and kill password permalock only
- No user memory (Ucode7m-specific)
- No untraceable command (only Ucode8)
- Self-adjusting impedance
- Memory Integrity Safeguards
The antenna design compatibility remains unchanged in the newest UCode9 compared to previous versions. The recommended transition from Monza6 to Monza7 ICs by Impinj, however, requires a redesign of antennas. The following features of Monza7 ICs have been improved and added compared to the previous version:
- Improved RF Performance
- EPC size increased to 128 Bits
- Added 32 bits of user memory (Only M750)
- Protected Mode
Short range can be enabled by standard untraceable command.
Improved Customer Relations as Result of IC Transition
16 Oct 2023 - Pacer
Remaining focused on meeting each customer’s individual needs has been very beneficial for LAB ID, Giovanni Codegoni says: “Our customers now follow us much more closely.” One additional reason for that is probably, he surmises, that the transitions have been very smooth.
